Papers by Juliette R Scott
Capcalera de pagina ESCOLLIU LLENGUA USUARI/USUARIA Nom d’usuari Contrasenya Recorda usuari i con... more Capcalera de pagina ESCOLLIU LLENGUA USUARI/USUARIA Nom d’usuari Contrasenya Recorda usuari i contrasenya Inici de la sessio EINES DE L'ARTICLE Imprimir aquest article Metadades d’indexacio Com s’ha de citar un element Cerca de referencies Envia per correu aquest article (Es requereix entrar) ELEMENTS RELACIONATS Mostra-ho tot PARAULES CLAU Catalunya Drets linguistics Pais Basc Pais Valencia Politica linguistica Traduccio juridica Unio Europea catala cronica legislativa demolinguistica dret linguistic dret linguistic. drets linguistics jurisprudencia llegibilitat llengua llengua oficial. normalitzacio linguistica politica linguistica sociolinguistica traduccio juridica CONTINGUT DE LA REVISTA Ambit de la cerca Cerca Navega Per numero Per autor/a Per titol Altres revistes MIDA DE LA LLETRA Make font size smallerMake font size defaultMake font size larger OPEN JOURNAL SYSTEMS PAGINA INICIAL QUANT A LA REVISTA CERCA ULTIM NUMERO NUMEROS ANTERIORS GUIA PER ALS AUTORS COMITE EDITORIA...
International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique, 2021
The globalisation of recent decades has led to a soaring demand for the translation of legal or q... more The globalisation of recent decades has led to a soaring demand for the translation of legal or quasi-legal instruments for national judiciaries and for the corporate sector, performed outside institutions. However, there has been little, if any, downstream impact or risk assessment in this field. The international and interdisciplinary project described in this paper, drawing data, inter alia, from case law and stakeholder reporting, seeks to bring to light the ways in which translated legal documents may be challenged, contested or discredited at the various stages of their ‘lives’, and the repercussions of such challenges on trade and the economy, law enforcement, rights, and legal security. A focus is placed on written legal translation performed outside institutions, given that this is an extremely under-researched area, indeed hardly researched at all. Until now, legal translation studies as an (inter)discipline has concentrated on process, context, participants and product, but has not investigated the impact of translated documents as binding or non-binding artefacts on the wider world, or their appearance in litigation. The project described in this paper seeks to fill that gap.
Comparative Legilinguistics
In this paper we examine translation arising in court cases involving reputational damage. A diac... more In this paper we examine translation arising in court cases involving reputational damage. A diachronic and tightly focused cross-jurisdictional selection of examples from case law is used to highlight the range of ways in which translation can be employed, blamed, or relied upon by the parties and by the courts, and we glimpse how translations can be a source of libel, a defence against libel, or a gateway to libellous material, how crucial translation can be in protecting or damaging reputations, and how significantly it can Comparative Legilinguistics 2022/50 123 affect a case's outcome. We apply Engberg's lens for communication in legal contexts, distinguishing micro, meso and macro occurrences of translation at publisher/business/individual, judicial, and State levels. Recurring translationrelated topics either mooted by courts or arising in our analysis are then outlined, including: competing translations; translation techniques; translator identification; online translation; how the acceptance of jurisdiction may be influenced by translation requirements; and how judges approach decisionmaking when foreign language documents and translation are involved.
Legal Translation Outsourced, 2019
This highly interdisciplinary practitioner research explores the outsourced legal translation env... more This highly interdisciplinary practitioner research explores the outsourced legal translation environment, with a view to optimizing fundamental aspects of procurement—commissioning and performance. The results of a global survey are analysed: participants comprised 84 principals, for the most part from leading law firms and corporations, and 303 legal translation practitioners (41 countries, 6 continents). Concepts from corporate agency theory are used to shed light on market dysfunctions, such as a tortuous chain of supply, while perspectives from genre theory, comparative law, and functionalist translation studies are applied to offer a multidimensional model for legal translation performance, and to foreground its risks and constraints. Fitness-for-purpose is examined as a workable quality criterion associated with translation briefs supplied. Professionalization and empowerment are raised as key factors with potential to significantly improve target text quality. Extensive fiel...
Legal Translation Outsourced, 2019
Chapter 1 situates outsourced legal translation in its environment, examining the specific featur... more Chapter 1 situates outsourced legal translation in its environment, examining the specific features of the market, and introduces corporate agency theory as a lens through which to research the commissioning and performance of legal translation from and by external practitioners, enriched with certain functionalist translation theories. Issues of status, cursory orders, and heterogeneous quality are discussed, together with the effects of accelerated technological developments and globalization. The complexity of interaction and power play between actors in the market and associated risk potential are discussed, and a model of the chain of supply is presented, along with profiles of key stakeholders.
Legal Translation Outsourced, 2019
The potential benefits of voicing performance constraints and addressing risk by means of a compr... more The potential benefits of voicing performance constraints and addressing risk by means of a comprehensive legal translation brief are the subject of Chapter 4. A review of academic work in this area and of briefing in comparable sectors of the market prepares the ground for a discussion of interactional and relational dysfunctions. This emphasizes the importance of the translator assuming a central role as an expert partner in a collaborative service provision process. Having reported some existing market initiatives, the author sets out the components for a legal translation brief to be used as a template by practitioners to optimize the delivery of these expert professional services.
Social Science Research Network, 2018
This paper posits that the terminology used for and by the legal translation profession is not wi... more This paper posits that the terminology used for and by the legal translation profession is not without significance, and may affect perceived status, professionalization, empowerment, and even remuneration.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2017
Residents of urban areas, and particularly urban cores, have higher levels of long-distance trave... more Residents of urban areas, and particularly urban cores, have higher levels of long-distance travel activity and related emissions, mostly on account of greater frequency of air travel. This relationship typically remains after controlling for basic socio-economic correlates of long-distance travel. There is an ongoing debate in the literature about what causes this association, and whether it calls into question urban densification strategies. Understanding this is important from a climate policy perspective. In this article, we investigate the role of three factors: i) access to airports; ii) the concentration of people with migration background and/or geographically dispersed social networks in urban areas; and iii) greater air travel by urban residents without cars ('rebound effect'). We use representative survey data for the UK including information on respondents' air travel frequency for private purposes and derive estimates of greenhouse gas emissions. The dataset also includes detailed information on migration generation, residential location of close family and friends, car ownership and use, as well as low-level geographical identifiers. The findings of regression analysis show that Greater London residents stand out in terms of emissions from air travel. Airport accessibility, migration background, and dispersion of social networks each explain part of this association, whereas we find no evidence of a rebound effect. However, proximity to town centres remains associated with higher emissions after accounting for these issues, indicating that this association is due to other factors than those considered here. We conclude by discussing implications for urban and climate policy, as well as future research.
This highly interdisciplinary practitioner research explores the outsourced legal translation env... more This highly interdisciplinary practitioner research explores the outsourced legal translation environment, with a view to optimizing fundamental aspects of procurement—commissioning and performance. The results of a global survey are analysed: participants comprised 84 principals, for the most part from leading law firms and corporations, and 303 legal translation practitioners (41 countries, 6 continents). Concepts from corporate agency theory are used to shed light on market dysfunctions, such as a tortuous chain of supply, while perspectives from genre theory, comparative law, and functionalist translation studies are applied to offer a multidimensional model for legal translation performance, and to foreground its risks and constraints. Fitness-for-purpose is examined as a workable quality criterion associated with translation briefs supplied. Professionalization and empowerment are raised as key factors with potential to significantly improve target text quality. Extensive fiel...
Legal Translation Outsourced, 2019
In Chapter 2, the performance of legal translation is analysed, seen as a negotiation and informe... more In Chapter 2, the performance of legal translation is analysed, seen as a negotiation and informed, inter alia, by comparative law, genre theory and functionalism, from four perspectives: language/discourse; legal systems; genre; and textual purpose. These comprise the underpinnings of the author’s multidimensional model of the legal translation practitioner’s textual agency, seen as a set of dynamic and non-linear interactions. Each facet is discussed individually to provide the background for the model which is presented at the end of the chapter. Levels of (c)overtness are also highlighted as a way of assisting clients in expressing their requirements, and emphasis is placed on the relevance and importance of differentiating translation status when work is commissioned.
Legal Translation Outsourced, 2019
Chapter 3 tackles the manifold constraints on the outsourced legal translation process, including... more Chapter 3 tackles the manifold constraints on the outsourced legal translation process, including various types of norms. The author presents a practice-based model dividing these constraints into three categories—those applying upstream, during, and downstream of translation performance. Each category is further enumerated, and the crosscutting issues of logistics and briefing inadequacies are also discussed. To add further depth to the model, a distinction is drawn between constraints on textual agency and those on relational agency. Fitness-for-purpose is explored as a quality assessment benchmark, particularly in relation to insufficiently briefed assignments and translator liability. The model has potential for application both in theoretical and practical environments, to elucidate difficulties, refine interactions, and achieve more effective client-translator and translator-client dialogues.
Research Methods in Legal Translation and Interpreting, 2019
This chapter reflects on a survey using online questionnaires to collect both quantitative and qu... more This chapter reflects on a survey using online questionnaires to collect both quantitative and qualitative data, in a practitioner research project on the commissioning and performance of legal translation outside institutions. Despite being largely ignored by researchers and overlooked by businesses and law firms, 'outstitutional' legal translation is an expanding and crucially important area. The channel and platform were chosen to offer participants flexible and expeditious access, given that informant profiles sought were (i) professional legal translators-internet-savvy but having to cope with constant deadlines, and (ii) commissioning principals with very limited time availability. Triangulation was aimed at rendering the data obtained more robust. The online questionnaire method allowed for global reach, an advantage in this first foray to glean an overview of the whole market, and other pros, and cons are discussed. Ethical and epistemological considerations are broached, as are the tools used. The method produced good levels of engagement and participation (303 legal translation practitioners, 84 principals): an extensive dataset addressing the research questions was obtained. Free-text boxes were used liberally by respondents, providing rich insights. Despite an option to remain anonymous, 91% of those participating provided their name, position, and even contact details.
Comparative Legilinguistics, 2012
Wydanie publikacji dofinansował Instytut J zykoznawstwa Czasopismo znajduje si na li cie Minister... more Wydanie publikacji dofinansował Instytut J zykoznawstwa Czasopismo znajduje si na li cie Ministerialnej czasopism punktowanych z 2012 roku z liczb 8 punktów. The issue has been published with financial grant from the Institute of Linguistics, Poland.
The Ins and Outs of Business and Professional Discourse Research, 2015
This chapter differs from many of the others in this book insofar as the author herself attempts ... more This chapter differs from many of the others in this book insofar as the author herself attempts to straddle the two worlds the intersection of which is under discussion — those of academia and practice. The complexities of access to professional worlds by researchers have been widely discussed (e.g. Kaur Johl & Renganathan, 2010; Okumus, Altinay & Roper, 2007; Welch, Marschan-Piekkari, Penttinen & Tahvanainen, 2002), whilst the positive outcomes of academic-practice partnerships are commonly stated. One might therefore conclude that a practitioner-researcher would hold a privileged position in that regard. The realities are far more complex — in fact a practitioner-researcher (or indeed researcher-practitioner!) must take great pains in order for their research to be accepted as sufficiently robust 1, and may be mistrusted by both “sides” — by academia for not having a sufficiently proven “track record”, and by practitioners for no longer being “one of them”. Hence, a researcher-practitioner not only has to tread very carefully concerning the “INs” of the profession being studied, but also the “INs” of the world of research itself.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2016
In a competitive and congested job market, this paper examines new career opportunities open to l... more In a competitive and congested job market, this paper examines new career opportunities open to linguistically minded young lawyers. Globalization has led to a soaring demand for the translation of legal documents, and we are now at a fork in the road -on the one hand bespoke automated systems are able to handle large volumes for discovery and information purposes translation, whilst on the other expert lawyerlinguists are needed to work on major cases, multilingual legislation and at international courts. Market stimulus and moves to professionalize legal translation have led to lawyer-linguist training being offered jointly by law and language faculties. Examples of innovative education programs will be discussed, as will various interpretations of the role of 'lawyer-linguist' . Legal translation is the ultimate legal and linguistic challenge -a gauntlet waiting to be picked up by a new generation as part of a fully globalized mature legal services market.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2015
Through an interdisciplinary lens of corporate agency theory, this paper explores the production ... more Through an interdisciplinary lens of corporate agency theory, this paper explores the production of translated written legal discourse by freelance workers, and how the latter’s agency could be optimized within that environment, suggesting some good practices.The supply chain from originator to end-user will be outlined, to set the freelance legal translator in a context of information flows, and high-light potential weaknesses in the communication process, using the legal translation brief as a case in point.Four key layers of agency “negotiated” by the legal translator will then be unpacked, consisting of: textual level; source and target legal systems; source and target generic sublanguages; and functional purpose(s) of source and target texts.
This paper will describe current progress in a project which develops a DIY electronic corpus pro... more This paper will describe current progress in a project which develops a DIY electronic corpus procedural methodology to assist legal translators. A particular focus is placed on corporate-related and court-related translation rather than legislation. The methodology involves the targeted retrieval of authoritative legal texts from Internet repositories and other sources by professional legal translators themselves, according to their specific needs or those of specific projects. Results so far seem to indicate that compilation of such corpora can be achieved in 30-45 minutes, thus in line with users' expressed criteria. Having carried out a pilot study with some initial testing with professional legal translators in certain legal genres, the current phase of the project involves performing more in-depth trialling of different language pairs and other legal genres, and looking at the issues of corpus representativeness in this context, target audience and translator expectations, the availability of corpus material, and quality assessment, whilst bearing in mind at all times feasibility in the workplace. The theoretical framework currently being leveraged is genre and supergenre analysis in professional applications, and contributions will be drawn from, inter alia, the fields of corpus linguistics, corpus use for learning applications, and jurilinguistics.
Comparative Legilinguistics, 2017
Legal translation is a highly skilled task. It has even been described as the “ultimate linguisti... more Legal translation is a highly skilled task. It has even been described as the “ultimate linguistic challenge” (Harvey 2002: 177). However, law firms or corporations that procure translations from self- employed translation practitioners often find the intricacies of the task difficult to perceive. Following extensive fieldwork examining how legal translation is commissioned and performed in ‘outstitutional’ contexts, I have developed a multidimensional model which illustrates the legal translator’s textual agency, aimed at conveying the complexities of translation performance to clients and other stakeholders. It may also serve to train fledgling legal translators, and to heighten practising translators’ awareness of their overall task. The impetus for the model sprang primarily from findings of serious information asymmetry and goal divergence in the market, and evidence that actors involved do not grasp (a) the need for legal translators to be fully briefed, or (b) the layers of s...
Abstract: The networks and routes of organised crime cross international borders. Perforce, trans... more Abstract: The networks and routes of organised crime cross international borders. Perforce, translations are required. Surprisingly, the contribution by translators working on written texts to crime prevention measures and prosecutions is often disregarded. If the topic is evoked at all, the focus is usually on interpreting—of the spoken rather than the written word—such as in police interviews of offenders or victims, and in courts. Nevertheless, significant volumes of written texts in this field are being translated in countries all over the world. Drawing from a global survey of legal translation practices (Scott 2016), this paper will suggest that it is very likely that security is severely inadequate, that there is considerable scope for miscarriages of justice, and that expertise is being underused and/or misused. Whilst legislation is generally translated inside institutions, many textual genres are translated by individuals who work through for-profit translation agencies. S...
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Papers by Juliette R Scott
- Empirical evidence reveals serious market dysfunctions, dangers and risk, including threats to justice
- Proposes an original theoretical model to aid both legal translators and other stakeholders
- Demonstrates how briefing can considerably improve the fitness-for-purpose of translated legal texts